Choosing effective therapeutic techniques

based on most dominant characteristics of gifted clients

*Vasso Androutsou1, Georgia Nika 2, Vassiliki Fotopoulou 3, Maria Kashtanova4, Anastasios Tsimakis5
1 Systemic Counselor , 2 Psychiatrist, 3 Social Worker – Systemic Counselor,
4 Schoolteacher, 5 Computer Engineer
1,2,3,4,5Hellenic Association of Parents of Gifted Children, Greece

e-mail: vandrout@yahoo.gr
This poster is a quick attempt at summarizing the most common characteristics of gifted adults –according to
the self-reports of those who completed the Greek Self-Report Questionnaire for Gifted Adults, that is part of a
pilot survey designed by the Greek Association of Parents of Gifted Children.
The Questionnaire consists of 40 self-report questions emphasized on characteristics –which we collected from
bibliography and the web–, related with cognitive/perceptional/emotional traits, creativity, motivation and
values, activity, and social relations, that are often experienced by gifted, but not obviously connected to the
traits of giftedness.
Giftedness is both a matter of degree and quality of different ways of experiencing: vivid, absorbing, insightful,
encompassing, complex, commanding – the way of life. Although gifted people experience all of life differently
and more intensely than those around them, usually they are defined by a set of standards based on the
general population. They exhibit greater intensity and increased levels of emotional, imaginational,
intellectual, sensual and psychomotor excitability and this is a normal pattern of their development. And it’s
exactly because of these that they have a finely tuned psychological structure and an organized awareness,
and thus that they experience all of life differently from the norm (Androutsou, 2015).
So, what is normal and just typical for the gifted person is most often labeled pathologic and perceived as
some kind of mental disorder in the general population (Amend & Beljan, 2009). Hence gifted becoming
increasingly personally and emotionally vulnerable to almost all of their relationships at family, at school, in
the workplace and in the community.
Research has shown that there are five personal factors covering the critical personality characteristics:
Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion/Introversion, Neuroticism and Agreeableness,
which remain stable over the individual’s lifetime, and are generalizable across a variety of cultures.
Based on these 5 factors, our findings from our ongoing study lead us to conclude that the personality of
gifted is expressed in two main bipolar dimensions: the “Rational” gifted and the “Creative” gifted. Among an
endless list of characteristics:
A “Rational” gifted person is a “linear” logical- On the other side, a “Creative” gifted person is
mathematical thinker, with narrow interests, down to curious, with broad interests, imaginative and
earth, rigid, perfectionist, obsessed with literalness, thoughtful, non-traditional, adventuresome, negligent,
self-disciplined, preserving, introverted, with great impulsive, risky, disorganized, procrastinative,
emotional maturity, particular difficulties in social extroverted, very talkative and very sociable, always
communication and imaginational projection, always questions rules or authority, “that restless, lovesome,
“that good, quiet, shy guy". always ready to go guy”.
However, most people lack accurate information about the typical characteristics of gifted individuals, and are
unaware that these developmental difficulties –both endogenous and exogenous– are associated with their
highly complex inherent characteristics which are often mislabeled as a personality or attentional disorder,
even by experts who do not receive specialized training in the identification and treatment of gifted.
When gifted seek counseling or therapy, they are often misdiagnosed as dysthymic, cyclothymic, borderline,
narcissistic personality, ADHD, with autistic or Asperger syndrome, OCD, and these are just a few of the
diagnostic labels mistakenly used to describe normative stages of positive disintegration (Webb et al, 2004).
This type of misdiagnosis may have as a result selecting misguided counselling strategies and techniques that
invalidate and attempt to "normalize" the complex inner process of the gifted. Even more, when misdiagnosed
gifted clients are prescribed medication to suppress the "symptoms of giftedness" there is the danger that the
wonderful inner nature of the gifted process will be neutralized, thus, minimizing the potential for a life of
accomplishment and fulfilment (Peterson and Moon, 2008).
So, therapists working with gifted must address the unique intrapersonal and interpersonal challenges that
gifted encounter so they are able to choose effective therapeutic techniques based on the most dominant
characteristics for their gifted clients.
References:
- Amend E.R. and Peters D.B. (2012). Misdiagnosis, Dual diagnosis, and missed diagnosis of gifted children and adults.
SENG Conference, CE Workshop, July 13, 2012.
- Ανδρούτσου Β., Τσάκωνα Ε., Μπαντέλη Ρ., Δήμου Α. (2015). Διπλή Διαφοροποίηση, Λανθασμένες Διαγνώσεις, και Εργαλεία
Αξιολόγησης της Χαρισματικότητας. 3ο Πανελλήνιο Συνέδριο ΨΕΒΕ “Ψυχολογία και Εκπαίδευση”. Ιωάννινα, 9–11 Οκτωβρίου
2015.
- Peterson J.S. and Moon S.M. (2008). Counselling the Gifted, In Steven I. Pfeiffer (ed.) Handbook of Giftedness in Children.
Springer, pp. 223-248.
- Webb J.T., Amend E.R., Nadia E. Webb N., Goerss J., Beljan P., Olenchak F.R. (2004). Misdiagnosis and Dual
Diagnoses of Gifted Children and Adults. Great Potential Press.